The News Agents How liberals lost the fight
120 snips
Apr 24, 2026 
Adrian Wooldridge, British journalist and author who spent decades at The Economist, lays out why liberalism looks exhausted and misunderstood. He defines its core principles and critiques the bourgeois-bohemian consensus. He explores identity politics, post-liberal pushes for strong power, and how liberalism might reinvent itself to meet voters’ demands.
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Liberalism Survived By Adapting Not Retreating
- Liberalism has repeatedly revived itself by adapting while preserving core tenets; its lost genius is adaptability.
- Wooldridge cites resuscitations in the 1890s, 1930s/40s and late 1970s as patterns to emulate now.
Post Liberalism Avoids The Pluralism Problem
- Post-liberal movements promise order and orthodoxy but fail to solve pluralism's core problem: how to handle deep disagreements over values.
- Wooldridge warns post-liberalism often implies imposing orthodox faith or collective solutions incompatible with individual freedom.
Restore Liberal Education To Counter Atomisation
- Liberalism's excess individualism since the 1980s produced atomised citizens needing identity and cultural anchors.
- Wooldridge proposes a revived liberal education and 'civilised values' to give people belonging without forcing orthodoxy.
